Sacramento Bee

The Sacramento Bee named a new publisher to guide the newspaper as it struggles with declining revenue and tries to extend its reach on the Internet. Cheryl Dell, president and publisher of the News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash., will replace Janis Heaphy, who announced her retirement.

Northern California-reared country singer Kevin Sharp, whose gentle tenor voice helped him score a handful of country hits in the late 1990s after winning a battle with cancer as a teenager, has died at 43. It wasn't the cancer that took his life but complications from digestive system illness he developed in recent years and for which he underwent surgery about five years ago, his sister, Mary Huston, told the Sacramento Bee . He died Saturday,...

A newspaper photographer who returned safely from such flash points as Panama, Haiti and Somalia was in serious condition Tuesday after being savagely beaten while taking pictures for a springtime feature here. John Trotter, 36, a photographer for the Sacramento Bee, had been photographing children frolicking in record high temperatures Monday when a group of eight to 12 men demanded his film and began beating him.

A 19-year-old seeking adventure by hopping freight trains and riding the rails was killed by three transients who were also riding illegally on the trains, Roseville, Calif., police said. Detectives last week announced they had arrested three train hoppers -- two men and a woman -- in connection with the March 2013 killing of John Paul Alpert of Palmdale. Alpert attended community college and left his family to go on a “first-time adventure” by hopping aboard trains and riding the rails across California, police said.

The Sacramento Bee's top editor resigned Thursday in a dispute over the long-term direction of the newspaper. Executive Editor Rick Rodriguez, 53, led the newspaper for nine years and was one of the highest-ranking Latino newspaper executives in the country. In a statement, Bee Publisher and President Janis Heaphy said the two had agreed to part ways and that their disagreement was not about the paper's staffing.

The Sacramento Bee apologized Tuesday to readers who were offended by its use of a racial epithet in an editorial cartoon last week, but critics pressed for a boycott of the state capital's only daily newspaper. Nate White, president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People's Sacramento chapter, urged the resignations of editorial cartoonist Dennis Renault and editorial page editor Peter Schrag, while a city councilman pushed for passage of a resolution denouncing the Bee.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee filed suit Wednesday against the University of California Board of Regents, demanding the release of police officers' names removed from a critical report on the controversial pepper spraying of UC Davis students. The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, contends that when university officials agreed in a court settlement last month to redact all but two names, they "failed to represent the interests of the press and public," leaving the newspapers with "no choice but to bring this petition to protect the public's right of access to this important information.

Bill Walsh, former San Francisco 49er coach, is attempting to forge a partnership between Sacramento and Oakland leaders to get an NFL expansion team in California's capital, a newspaper reported. Walsh told the Sacramento Bee that he has talked to investors willing to participate in a franchise that would have owners in both Oakland and Sacramento.

A man was in custody Friday in connection with the beating and alleged sexual assault of a Subway sandwich shop employee earlier this week in Sacramento. Kenneth Chandler Anderson, 22, was arrested by Sacramento County sheriff's deputies and booked on four felony charges in connection with the assault on the woman as she arrived to work early Tuesday, KTXL-TV in Sacramento reported . Anderson is a longtime employee of the sandwich shop, according to the Sacramento Bee. He was booked into jail Thursday.

A likely tornado damaged a dozen homes late Wednesday near Sacramento, officials said. The damage was reported in Roseville during a strong storm. The damage was described as moderate, and no injuries were reported, according to the Sacramento Bee. “That window sits on top of our couch. We would've been sitting on that couch watching TV when that would've happened. And there were some big chunks of glass that came down,” Keith Kun told Fox 40 News. “Nobody was hurt.

Three days after a Northern California teen was struck and killed by an oncoming train as he pushed his girlfriend out of its direct path, classmates returned to a somber campus Monday teeming with counselors. “We really don't know what to expect, experts tell me every situation is different, but we are prepared,” Tim Malone, principal of Marysville Charter Academy of the Arts, told Fox 40 . Mateus Moore, 16, was pronounced dead at the scene Friday after both he and his girlfriend, 16-year-old Mickayla Friend, were hit by the train in Marysville, Calif., just north of Sacramento.

A man who spent more than three years in a Sacramento jail on charges that he killed his 4-month-old son was released Thursday after prosecutors told a judge they could no longer prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had inflicted the injuries. Everett Bobbylee Quinn, now 24, was arrested about a year after his infant son died in a hospital July 29, 2007. Quinn and his girlfriend called 911 on May 19, 2007, to report that the baby had become unresponsive after vomiting blood.

Joey Rollings, the boys' basketball coach at Sacramento Sheldon, has been suspended for four weeks by the Elk Grove Unified School District after an investigation into an allegation of undue influence, according to the Sacramento Bee . He is banned from attending practices and games. Three players who transferred to Sheldon at the start of the school year have not played. "In the fall, an allegation of undue influence was brought to the district's attention," spokeswoman Elizabeth Graswich said in a statement.

SACRAMENTO - It seems like a long time ago, and it was. Forty years ago today, my first story as a Times staff writer ran in the paper. It was about Ronald Reagan entering his final year as governor. Although he was a lame duck, I wrote, his political health had "remained relatively stable. " The piece ran on Page 1. I was in heaven. Not only was I working for the classy, well-paying L.A. Times, but my first offering was played out front. Unbeknown to most people outside this business, nothing is more important to a news reporter - short of accuracy - than landing on Page 1. That's really the sole agenda.

"I know everyone didn't do it, but everyone has to pay for it. I play basketball for you all, I don't live for you all." Chris Webber, Sacramento King forward, saying he wouldn't talk to local media representatives for the rest of the season after a Sacramento Bee story linked him to supermodel Tyra Banks.

Nine people were hurt Tuesday when an SUV plowed into a Starbucks in Folsom, officials said. Two of the nine were taken to hospitals for treatment after the 2:50 p.m. accident that occurred when the SUV crashed into the store on East Bidwell Street, according to the Sacramento Bee . No information about the SUV driver was released by police. It was unknown how many people were in the vehicle at the time. “No one from the vehicle was injured,” Folsom police Officer Andrew Bates told the Bee. “There was no substance abuse, and it was not a medically related crash.” The investigation is ongoing.

A man suspected of gunning down eight city officials in Mexico more than 10 years ago has been arrested in Sacramento. Genaro Olaguez, 53, was arrested without incident after he was found living with family along Grove Street in Sacramento, although he initially gave authorities a false identity, Fox 40 reported . Investigators say Olaguez used heavy weaponry to carry out the attack in Sinaloa in May 2000. A city commissioner was among those killed, the Sacramento Bee reported . Four others were injured.